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Matthew Apfel practiced law in Beijing, New York, and Washington, D.C. before founding a Phoenix immigration and international business firm that now helps foreign companies bring executives into the United States.
A NOTE TO READERS. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. Apfel and Associates, P.C. did not pay for, request, or review this article prior to publication, and placement on Awesome Attorneys’ editorial pages cannot be purchased. Nothing in this article is legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the outcome of any future case.
At a Glance
| Firm | Apfel and Associates, P.C. |
| Attorney | Matthew Apfel |
| Admitted | New York, District of Columbia, Arizona; U.S. District Court and Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Professional Associations | American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA); past Chair, Arizona Bar International Law Section |
| Firm Founded | 2012 (Washington, D.C.); Phoenix office opened 2014, Tucson office 2016 |
| Focus | Corporate/business immigration, international business transactions, intellectual property, international arbitration and investment disputes |
| Office | 2375 E. Camelback Rd., Ste. 600, Phoenix, AZ |
| Contact | apfelandassociates.com |
Sources: apfelandassociates.com, Avvo, Arizona Jewish Life. Compiled August 2026.
Origin
Matthew Apfel Phoenix: From the U.S. Senate and State Department to His Own Firm
Matthew Apfel’s career spans work at the U.S. Senate, the Canadian Embassy, the Asia Society, and the CATO Institute in Washington, D.C. In 2005, he clerked at the Office of the Legal Advisor at the U.S. Department of State, assisting in the formulation of private international legal treaties in banking and secured transactions. He founded his own firm in Washington, D.C. in 2012 to return to business and transactional law, then opened a Phoenix office in 2014 and a Tucson office in 2016. He is a past Chair of the Arizona Bar’s International Law Section and a current member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Practice
Corporate Immigration for Companies Expanding Into the U.S.
Apfel’s practice centers on corporate and business immigration: helping foreign companies establish a U.S. presence, structure their operations and trademarks, and bring executives and key employees to work in the United States. He specializes in immigration alongside international business transactions, intellectual property, public international law, and international arbitration and investment disputes, including civil suits against foreign sovereign states in domestic courts. His firm is currently assisting a robotics company from Sonora, Mexico, in establishing a presence in Southern Arizona — a specific, named, current matter reflecting the cross-border nature of his practice. Law partner Angelo Torrealba brings nearly 20 years of experience in public international law and asylum/humanitarian protection work; between the two founding attorneys, the firm operates in five languages and has practiced law on five continents.
Track Record
Awesome Attorneys did not identify an independent, itemized case-results table for this practice, which is typical for corporate immigration and international business transactional work given confidentiality.
Past-Results Disclaimer: Every matter is different, and no past result guarantees a similar outcome in any future matter.
Client Voice
Awesome Attorneys did not identify a substantial volume of independently sourced, individually attributable client reviews for Apfel in the sources reviewed for this profile, consistent with a practice weighted toward corporate and institutional clients.
Community
Apfel’s service as past Chair of the Arizona Bar’s International Law Section represents genuine professional leadership distinct from client-facing marketing. He has also written and contributed to international trade and customs law publications.
Recognition
Apfel’s AILA membership and his past chairmanship of the Arizona Bar International Law Section reflect genuine, verifiable professional engagement, though neither is a peer-reviewed ranking in the way Best Lawyers or Chambers USA operates. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, or Chambers USA recognition for Apfel in the sources reviewed.
The Arizona Legal Backdrop
What follows is general legal information, not legal advice.
Immigration law is governed almost entirely by federal law rather than Arizona statute — the Immigration and Nationality Act, administered through USCIS, the Department of State, and federal immigration courts. Corporate immigration matters, Apfel’s named focus, typically involve employment-based nonimmigrant visa categories such as L-1 intracompany transfers and E-2 treaty investor visas, both federal classifications without a state-law counterpart.
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Matthew Apfel Phoenix’s clearest differentiator is a genuinely international career — U.S. Senate, State Department, and multiple foreign postings — now applied to a specific, documented niche: helping foreign companies establish U.S. operations and bring executives here to run them.
The honest trade-off: this is a corporate and business immigration practice, not a boutique focused on individual family-based petitions or asylum seekers, so individuals seeking that kind of representation should look to the family- and humanitarian-focused immigration attorneys elsewhere in this category, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify a substantial independent client-review record.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched in August 2026 from apfelandassociates.com, Avvo, and Arizona Jewish Life. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a competing “Matthew Apfel” practicing immigration law elsewhere that could create identity confusion. Apfel and Associates, P.C. did not commission, review, or pay for this profile.
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
This profile is an independent editorial article published by Awesome Attorneys. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any lawyer or law firm profiled on this site, and inclusion in this series is not paid placement.